Residency requirements vary widely in other Massachusetts cities

When the City Council, on a fractured 5-4 vote, enacted a broad residency requirement for hiring municipal workers after years of debating its merits, members on both sides cited evidence from other Massachusetts cities as proof of success and failure.

When the City Council, on a fractured 5-4 vote, enacted a broad residency requirement for hiring municipal workers after years of debating its merits, members on both sides cited evidence from other Massachusetts cities as proof of success and failure.

The Herald News last week asked personnel directors in some of these cities about the way they’re currently used.

Not surprisingly, conditions vary widely. That includes where residency requirements remain in effect: in Brockton, New Bedford and Springfield. One nearby city where it used to exist is Taunton.

State law keeps most educators out of consideration.

Brockton

In Brockton, where it took several years negotiating with unions to implement the law, the personnel director said, "we paid to get it in," and now "every time we’re at the negotiating table the unions look to bargain it away."

"It took us a long, long time to get it bargained in Brockton," said Maureen Cruise, who for 16 years has handled personnel in the city she’s lived in most of her life.

Their residency law requires non-union and certain department heads move into the city within one year.

She said the law, passed Jan. 1, 1992, did not go into effect unilaterally with unions until 1996. It says the employees must be Brockton residents within a year and stay for their first seven years.

The provision did not come cheaply. "Residency is a huge ticket item. It has large costs," Cruise said.

She said concessions included holiday pay and salary increases, as examples.

New Bedford

New Bedford approved residency for its municipal workers on Sept. 8, 1977, and a year later, after bargaining with unions, put the residency law into effect.

"Over time it’s been modified by the union contracts," said Elizabeth Treadup, press secretary to the mayor.

For instance, for those covered by AFSCME’s union, they must live in New Bedford when hired. After three years, they may move to one of eight nearby communities, including Dartmouth, Freetown and Westport.

For police and fire departments, the requirement is a more stringent version of the state law that says public service employees must live in the community when hired but can move after one year to a place within 15 miles of the city’s border: It takes four years as New Bedford residents for uniform fire and police to be eligible for the 15-mile allowance, according to Treadup.

Failure to comply with the law "may be reason for termination after written notice and a hearing," reads part of the notice given to new hires that requires their signatures.

Over time, Treadup said, "some waivers were granted" by the mayor and City Council that can approve them for jobs they’re not able to fill with qualified residents. Neither she nor the personnel director could readily supply information on how often waivers have been used.

Page 2 of 2 - Taunton

"We used to have a residency requirement. It was revoked some time ago," said Maria Gomes, Taunton’s personnel director of the past eight years. She was uncertain of the date and circumstances of the revocation, except to say that it was before she started.

Springfield

In Springfield, Personnel Director William Mahoney said the large city of 150,000 residents has had a version of the law for some time. In 2009, a revised order said those hired after March 1995 had to be a city resident and anyone promoted had one year to become a resident.

One problem, Mahoney said, is the residency requirement "is not strictly enforced," while penalties for non-compliance are not clear.

For one thing, the seven-member "residency compliance commission" charged with "investigating and making findings" hasn’t existed for years, he said. Last year the city began requiring those post-1995 workers hired to fill out certificates of residency, and a City Council subcommittee was meeting last week as part of a two-year process to "amend" the ordinance, the personnel director said.

"We have a large portion of our workforce not covered by the statute," he said.

He indicated that as the city attempted to enforce residency, the unions pressed to negotiate the terms. He was unable to say what changes the council is considering.

Another department employee said putting non-compliance penalties in place might be a priority.

Job renewal

Brockton’s Cruise said many of their department heads — including her — require three-year renewed terms to retain their jobs.

When combined with the residency requirement, "it has absolutely impacted" the hiring process, she said. "Our pool of applicants has diminished once they find out there’s a three-year term. They must move in in one year and could be out of a job in three years," Cruise noted.

While there’s no such formal job renewal process in Fall River, the city every two years elects its mayor, who can hire and fire most non-public-safety employees.